In all seriousness, I do value you greatly as a friend.

Hugz,

Yogi

p.s. If you give my contact info to those Amway people, you may find a bear sticker on the Mason Mobile.

Unless you got a pint of vanilla, I will respectfully decline.

If the BB gods read this, the B&J guys make a creme brulee flavor. Just sayin’.

Always trust the Bear…grrrr

Hugz and best.

Bwahahaahaahhahaha

You left out emailer.

I believe this statement does a disservice to the wolf community. I have Discovery Channel and the wolf programs I have seen show that young wolves are much better behaved than the standard mouth breather at Wal-Mart on Saturday.

Outside of that I have a pretty good death glare that I break out in situations like that. If that fails asking someone to STFU works as well. You are a big guy as well so you would probably scare people if you did.

Or you could just bring out the firearms.

http://www.lulu.com/content/2240963

On the other hand, I always did get the feeling that the USA would love to impose a complete embargo on China (not necessarily because it was communist), but considering China is the manufacturing superman of the entire planet, the USA wouldn’t dare. Much of our $13 trillion dollar economy depends on China (and India) and to do such a thing would be astronomically imbecilic.

As for Cuba, the embargo was imposed during a time when the US was much more anti-communist (thanks largely to Russia), and it is still going on largely, I suspect, due to stubbornness. Fortunately, however, the US’ anti-communist feelings have largely waned in the last few years (since the collapse of the USSR), but apparently, we’ll still impose the occasional embargo (i.e. Venezuela).

Don’t wanna GUNDECK the history!

Ya gotta tell me if they had a Royal Baby during Shellback initiation??? I am hoping that it wasn’t as lame as it LOOKED in real life. Please tell! Thanks for your comments…

We have an F3H Demon website at http://f3hdemon.homestead.com/

At 68, I’m probably one of the youngest subscribers to that site.

My son, Randy Ribera (AT1), last year completed his 20, all served on carriers or at NAS (Oak Harbor and North Island).

The AQ shop was on the 02 level, just under the flight deck. Fortunately it was amidships and not under the section where the tailhooks hit the deck.

On my first cruise on Shang, I was a lowly AQ3 and was berthed on 02 aft. Night Ops were a bitch, but it is amazing what you can learn to ignore in order to sleep. Later cruises, as AQ2, we were quartered below the hangar deck. Quieter, but up against the inner bulkhead so that we got all the heat radiated from the fuel stored in the double hull. A real bitch in the Phillipines!

Our WWII converted carriers (angled deck, steam cats) were about 2/3 the size of Nimitz and we were still flying Spads (AD1) in various configurations. CAG11 (same as featured on Carrier) at that time was flying F11F, A4D, F8U, F3H, and AD1. We were usually accompanied by a detachment of A3D, and of course the COD.

Thanks for the opportunity to reminisce.

My Blog site is http://riberajoe.blogspot.com/

Joe Ribera AQ2 VF-114 1958-1961

VF-114 Aardvarks!

http://vf-114.org/index.php?link=history
Some history for the readers:
“A few years later, in 1957, VF-114 was introduced to the F3H Demon, from McDonnell. This was their first aircraft capable of carrying air-to-air missiles. In the four year association with the Demon VF-114 made two cruises with the type, both from the deck of USS Shangri La (CVS-38).

1961 was an important year for the squadron, as they were introduced to the McDonnell Douglas F-4B Phantom II. VF-114 were the first Pacific Fleet squadron to acquire the Phantom II. Apparently it was the resembelance between the McDonnell fighter and the BC Comics cartoon character Zot that inspired VF-114 to change their name and insignia to an Aardvark, the change happening in 1963. At some point the squadron had 2ft replica of Zot created, which was proudly displayed in the squadron’s ready room and guarded dilligently against intruders from other squadrons. VF-114’s first Phantom II deployment began in September 1962, as part of CVW-11, onboard the USS Kitty Hawk (CV-63). Between 1961 and 1976 VF-114 made a total of five combat cruises to Vietnam, gaining five MiG kills in the process. Also at some point during this period they transferred from the F-4B to the more advanced F-4J variant of the Phantom II.”

Joe Ribera

Airmen forever,

Joe Ribera
AQ2 VF-114 1958-1961

Hope you feel better.